Baseball has a funny way of humbling the most seasoned stars. One day, you are confidently toeing the rubber with a well-researched game plan, and the next, you are staring at the scoreboard wondering what just hit you. It is not the mechanics, and it is not the velocity. It is something far more unsettling—a hitter who plays like he is from another era. That is exactly where Yankees star Carlos Rodón found himself during the All-Star week.

After a frustrating encounter with a certain Athletics rookie, Rodón could not stop talking about it. “It’s not fair,” the veteran star said, shaking his head in disbelief. And just like that, Jacob Wilson became the talk of the team.

Rodón had a plan. Armed with a detailed scouting report, he went with the textbook approach: a high fastball inside, precisely the place Wilson was not supposed to handle. However, things did not go as expected. “I said, ‘Dude, I’m looking at scouting reports on you and it says to throw fastballs up and in because you’re not supposed to have any hard contact,’” the Yankees star recalled, via USA TODAY Sports. “I throw a four-seamer up and in, and you hit a double off me. Come on.” The disbelief in Rodón’s voice said it all—this was not just a rookie getting lucky. This was a rookie breaking the system.

Rodón did not stop there, and his frustration poured out like a pitcher watching his ERA rise. “You don’t know what to expect with a guy that has low-miss and can put up quality contact out there,” Rodon said. “It’s not fair. What do I do with a guy like this? You’re not going to strike him out.” This statement was a gut punch for pitchers. A guy you can’t strike out is a nightmare in today’s game, where pitchers feast on whiffs.

The Yankees star went on to highlight the helplessness pitchers feel. “You’re trying to get a pitch that limits launch or limits exit velocity, and hopefully he gets out,” Rodon added further. “That’s what makes it tough, especially when you have a guy on base, because he’s more than likely to drive that run in because of the ability to put the bat on the ball.” This ability to make contact—consistently and cleanly—has made the rookie a puzzling young hitter to face, and he is proving that simplicity can sometimes be the deadliest weapon of all.

What makes Wilson so dangerous is not just his numbers—it is the way the rookie racks them up. He is doing something pitchers have almost forgotten how to defend: he is just hitting. In 340 at-bats, Wilson has struck out only 28 times. This puts him in rare company. Add in a .332 batting average, and suddenly, pitchers are scrambling for answers that no spray chart seems to hold.

To Rodón, Wilson is more than just a statistical anomaly—he is a problem the league does not know how to solve. “It’s very different what guys do now,” Rodón added, highlighting how rare Wilson’s style is. Rodón’s reaction might have been the loudest, but it certainly was not the only one. Around MLB, especially inside the A’s, Wilson is earning comparisons that go far beyond just batting average.

A’s rookie draws HoF praise with every At-Bat

If Luis Arraez was the early go-to comp for Jacob Wilson, a new take from within the A’s just raised the bar. Former AL Rookie of the Year Bobby Crosby, now a coach with the A’s, did not stop there. He told the San Francisco Chronicle that Wilson reminds him of Derek Jeter. “It’s crazy,” Crosby said, acknowledging the weight of that comparison. But his reasoning made sense: both players attack the right side, wait for a mistake, and then send it screaming into the left-field seats. It is less flash, more feel, and for Crosby, it was Jeter vibes all over again.

What really separates Wilson from others, though, is his balance of contact, power, and poise. Wilson doesn’t just hit for average; he is showing pop, too. Wilson’s nine homers are more than Arraez and Hoerner combined. His strikeout rate of 7.7 percent ranks third in all of MLB, trailing only Arraez and Nico Hoerner. Advanced metrics love him, too: a .332 average, .375 OBP, and a 132 wRC+—right up there with Fernando Tatis Jr. and Bryce Harper. That is not just “good for a rookie.” This is All-Star production.

There is also the intangible factor. Teammates rave about Wilson’s attitude, maturity, and love for the game. In a period filled with strikeout-heavy sluggers and passive at-bats, Wilson’s aggressive, old-school approach is like a breath of fresh air. “I want to swing. I never want to walk,” Wilson said.

The rookie’s respect for hitters like Arraez and the comparisons to veterans like Jeter say as much about his thought process as they do about his swing. If the All-Star Game is the rookie’s coming-out party, he is showing up with vintage flair and future-star energy.

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